A COMMUNITY can sleep easier at night after an Anti Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) was imposed on a 17-year-old menace preventing him from causing further trouble on the estate. Ryan Stanley Walch, of Bidston Street, Fishwick, is banned from going out in public between 10.30pm and 5am, from drinking alcohol except on licensed premises, and from driving any vehicle. If he breaks the terms of the ASBO, Walch would face arrest and possible imprisonment. The two-year order was imposed at Preston Youth and Family Court, Lawson Street, on Friday, September 19, following Walch's conviction of two offences. But as the hearing was heard in a youth court, reporting restrictions meant that the media could not identify Walch, even though the police agreed that without disclosing the offender's identity, the ASBO would be difficult to impose. Citizen reporter Margaret Blackburn was in court covering the case. Thanks to her efforts challenging the court, the reporting restrictions were lifted. Her actions have now been praised by police. PC Dave Johnson, of Fulwood Police, who has been investigating Walch for several months, said: "I am especially grateful to Margaret Blackburn from the Preston Citizen who made a successful appeal in court, to the magistrates, to allow reporting restrictions to be lifted. "This means the people of Preston can hear about what a nasty individual Ryan Walch is and what lengths the police have had to go to to protect a community." Walch appeared before magistrates charged with being drunk and disorderly in Tennyson Road on Saturday, July 26 and for driving, while disqualified, with no insurance or MOT on Sunday, August 24, at 5pm. He pleaded guilty to both charges. He was fined £100 or sentenced to one day's imprisonment for being drunk and disorderly. He was disqualified from driving for two years.

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